- Location
- Massachusetts
Randy, Per UL there is no such thing as an AFCI tester, those Ideal tools are AFCI indicators and when you read the directions you find that they tell you to test the AFCI with the test button.
Arc Fault Breakers
- Thread starter melanconelectric
- Start date
- Status
Randy, Per UL there is no such thing as an AFCI tester, those Ideal tools are AFCI indicators and when you read the directions you find that they tell you to test the AFCI with the test button.
JohnJ0906
Senior Member
- Location
- Baltimore, MD
Fulthrotl
~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
- Occupation
- E
quite true.... and what i wanted it for was being able to locate a ground
miswire, not test an AFCI...
as for AFCI's, one day the chief inspector of a town south of here
and i were having a discussion about afci's after we had done the
inspection..... and his opinions on afci's seemed to parallel my own.
anytime i'm lucky enough to find some poor soul who actually agrees with
me is a big day, so we did a test... plugged in a drill motor into a bedroom
plug for a load, and broke the hot wire upstream feeding it.... then played
with the wires to make a nice juicy arc under a 1 hp load... we could pull
a 1/8" arc between the wires, enough to get our merit badge in firemaking,
and the AFCI was really ok with that... no interruptions in service whatsoever.
i've only found one thing that will reliably trip an AFCI, and it is the button
on the device. they do not appear, based on my field experience, to do
what they claim to do.
randy
- Location
- Massachusetts
I am sure we could do that for less then the p[rice of those Ideal units.
Actually I do want my own Sure test, they look handy for somethings, I am just to cheap to spring for it.
The first generation AFCIs needed an arc upward of 70 amps to operate.
That may well be true. :smile:
cadpoint
Senior Member
- Location
- Durham, NC
it's pretty bad when you start quoting yourself, but it's come to that.
i did a little more research on the ideal 61-165 suretest... it is a pretty
slick device. there is no way to hide from it, either.
here's why i popped for it.... it'll find false grounds within 15' upstream
of a device, without taking the circuit down. i've got a building to clear
the neutral faults from. this is going to make that a whole lot easier.
it'll also do real time voltage drop at 12, 15, and 20 amps
it'll measure bolted fault current available at that point.
don't even ask me how that works. maybe zog knows.
it'll measure impedance on all three wires, telling you which one
is funky.
it'll test gfci's and tell you how many milliseconds and how many milliamps
it tripped at.
so, i stick it in the ... plug, and it tells me:
....
& Christmas is Coming!
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electricmanscott
Senior Member
- Location
- Boston, MA
So...is that tester, indicator, whatever you want to call it, going to help me find the cause of my numerous tripping afcis?
mdshunk
Senior Member
- Location
- Right here.
no!!!! Absolutely not.
cadpoint
Senior Member
- Location
- Durham, NC
I really like "Q's Overview/Answer addressing AFCI issues... His O/A was answered!
Divide and concour also comes to mind! Ring them out, and know your circuit!
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